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What was the most trouble you've gone to for a discontinued beauty product?
What was the most trouble you’ve gone to for a discontinued beauty product? What product? Was it worth it?
I thought it might be fun to recount our moments hunting for an elusive discontinued item. MAC Marisheeno lipstick is a lovely coral-ish kind of shade, and it was somehow available here in the states at one point (I bought it randomly), but never again could I find it. I was able to get someone who purchased three of them for me from Southeast Asia, where it was permanent!
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Well…I haven’t done anything crazy for makeup, but I wear perfume oil and there was a scent by Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab that had been a LE release from right before I get into them. By the time I’d even gotten to sniff a sample, it had gotten pretty rare, and I spent like $60 getting enough decants and an empty bottle to dump them in. (This was something that originally retailed at like $15, and I didn’t even get a full bottle’s worth when all was said and done.)
Luckily for me, the scent got brought back and made general catalog, because it’s like my signature scent. And the collectors have only gotten crazier about rare and old LEs since then. 🙂
I’m considering paying $60 US for Pink Pigeon… haven’t quite managed to convince myself yet!
OMG!! Confessions of an ADDICT… what are WE to do? 😀
This color is so lovely! Now I want this Lipstick too.
I’m still searching Mac Ripe Peach, but until now I wasn’t able to find it.
I saw a review/swatch that you did on Chanel Dragon (75) Rouge Allure Laque and I fell in love! Got on the Nordstrom waitlist for it, since it was nowhere else to be found. Then after several weeks, they called me to let me know they wouldn’t be getting anymore of them. My husband and I had planned a trip to Paris and I looked for it there and found it! Had it in my hand, asked how much it was (after the currency translation it was close to $70) thought somehow that I would be able to get it back in the states somewhere for cheaper so I left it there. When I got back to the states, I looked everywhere and couldn’t find it. I was bummed. A few weeks after we went to Victoria B.C. We were taking a walk downtown and we went into a department store/mall randomly. I went to the Chanel counter, asked the girl if she had it, and she looked and said she had two left!!!!! This time I took it, without even seeing the pricetag!!!! I love them! Truly the perfect red!
For sure MAC Prussian. I love the color! And I’m a history major so the name always reminds me of history. Anyways… I went to 5 stores in my area. That is the Mac pro store, the eaton centre, counters at Scarborough town centre,eaton centre, pickering town centre and then the actual store in Scarborough town. No one had any left. Sooo I had to go to the MAC warehouse sale in Markham to purchase one!
I spent a week looking for a discontinued primer online. I finally found it in a webshop in The Netherlands, but when I received my package, I noticed that the product was way past its expiry date… So I’m guessing it was a left over… Not good.
I searched high and low for the Viva Glam Cyndi lipstick (e.g., called up different stores, searched lots of websites, etc.). Was never able to get one.
Me too! I’ve only been able to find the lipgloss on ebay.
Mac Mangomix shadestick, i scoured eBay, blog sales, until i found one in someones blog sale! since then when i come across them, i have to buy it
Ripe Peach Ombre, it sold out way to fast online and I went to 5 MAC stores in 3 cities to finally get it.
Also Tarte FRXtion Sugar Exfoliator & Lip Balm. They stop selling at Sephora and only had it one the Tarte website for a year. So i hunted down on ebay. It a shame they DC’d because for years it was the only Tarte product I would buy as the portable scrub and balm was perfect for me. I have one backup now so I’m not sure what I’m going to do once that ones gone. 🙁
I don’t think a product I absolutely love ever got discontinued, but I know I would buy a few backups if that were the case.
I’ve spent hours searching blog sales for discontinued items. But it was worth it: I managed to get MAC Petticoat and Comfort MSFs through blog sales. They weren’t too expensive either!
Called the company to locate for me; called stores in other states to locate. Resorted to ebay which is hard for me since I am MAC PPID customer.
Christine, can you recommend a dupe for Marisheeno? Is SUCH a perfect color and obviously not easy to get! Any suggestions?
The most trouble I’ve ever gone to is using the “Gone But Not Forgotten” program from Clinique – I think EL has it too. I’ve contacted them a few times. I tried to track down Black Lily lipstick with no luck. I had some success finding Happy To Be perfume after it was discontinued. Unfortunately at the moment they contacted me I couldn’t purchase the bottles. I could still find it online if I wanted to, just haven’t got around to it. I also used GBNF to down their Plush Pink Defining lipliner after they discontinued it. I love that liner so much I bought two extras. It’s the exact color of my lips except a shade darker so it’s the perfect MLBB shade for me. I’m hoping after I run out I will be able to find a dupe from Mac or BB.
I’ve seriously considered Three Custom Color to recreate the Black Lily lipstick, but haven’t talked myself into spending that much. I love it so much, and have never found a good dupe in any other brand. However, I’m still not sure it’s worth what they charge to recreate the color and what if they can’t recreate it exactly? It’s a lot of money for me.
Nothing discontinued here but I wanted to share my limited distribution story:
I went through some serious trouble to get the Dior Golden Jungle effect polish from the current fall collection. After I went to the usual outlets here in the US and could not find it, I emailed Dior. They informed me that this is a Cananda and overseas exclusive.
I a Canadian department store and they were more than happy to ship, but required a $200 order minimum (the nail polish itself was about $28).
I rallied all my friends, combined some products, ordered an expensive serum myself, absorbed the foreign FX charge from the credit card company for everyone. This is the most expensive nail polish I ever bought.
They did give me reduced shipping and a 10% discount, but I was surprised to see not a single sample in my order. Oh well.
that is commitment! I was yearning for that nail color 🙁
I eBayed that one- same with all my purple life and rebel lipglass. I ended up paying about 55 dollars for the nail polishes shipped from Hong Kong, 30 for AMPL, and 25 for Rebel. Worth it? Totally!!
I haven’t gone through excessive trouble to track down a discontinued product unless it was fairly recently discontinued. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get a product that is so old it has soured. I once paid $30 for a Dior nail polish on E-Bay. $30 doesn’t seem like a lot now but when the polish was first released it was $19.
my favorite facial lotion was skin milk (I used to buy it at Walmart), which isn’t sold anywhere that I know of anymore. I have searched high and low, even on eBay. once, I found a CASE of it at some type of dollar store online but I wasn’t sure how legitimate it was, so I didn’t want to give them my credit card info , plus, I mean, I love this face moisturizer, but an entire case? ehh… so I resorted to eBay, and purchased one, and when I got it, it was the regular body moisturizer!! gah!! not what I wanted at all… so, now I am using “yes to blueberries” and “yes to carrots,” still hoping that skin milk will come back! haha I’ve been to their website, and it looks like its still being produced but I can’t find it for sale anywhere on earth lol. I’ve gone through the same type of ordeal for my favorite toothpaste (colgate eucalyptus mint) as well, but I guess that’s not exactly beauty-related…. *sigh* WHY ARE COMPANIES always discontinuing my holy grail items??!??
oops- the name of the discontinued toothpaste was Colgate herbal herbal white- it has lemon and eucalyptus in it. not that it matters, since they stopped selling it years ago… lol but just in case anyone out there would like to join forces with me and beg Colgate
to bring it back, I thought I’d throw the real name out there lol 😉
I asked my mother to go by her local MAC and pick up some things that were sold out online and mail them to me. I wouldn’t say that’s too much trouble though.
I’ve never *tried* to track down anything DC’d, but if I’m at a store and see something on clearance, I tend to buy alot. I was at Big Lots and saw my HG eye highlighter, Revlon Pure Pearl, on sale, and bought them *all* (there were about 7 of them). I don’t even know if they were DC’d, but I didn’t want to take the chance.
I do have a couple of HG foundation products by Max Factor, which is no longer sold in the US, but I haven’t had the need to buy them, yet. However, I’ve done a little research, and when I need to replace, I should be ble to do so without much effort or money.
These stories are awesome! So glad I’ve never had to do anything like this! I know my day will come though, lol!
hmm…driving to three different stores to find a nail polish, but all are within 10 miles of each other. I guess ebay would be the next “most trouble I’ve gone to”. I LOATHE buying on ebay because you just never know what you are really getting.
I have searched the internet and sometimes for months. There are very few things I have not located that will ship to Canada. One item was a Lancome Smokey Seduction Christmas palette from about 2 years ago. I still have not located. Anything else, I have found and bought. usually price is not a factor once I find.
None, really. I just try to find another product that I like. I have way too much makeup to worry about the loss of one product. Not bragging, just OCD when it comes to make up.
I desperately wanted Chanel Bronze Universel: for so long it wasn’t available on their site so I went down to Saks and found that they had a couple stashed away, so I bought all they had (two) and walked away feeling so guilty that I had drained the supply they had. Who knew if it would be available ever again? Although it was no trouble to go bodily to a counter, I have found that it’s too orange for me. I regret now buying it at all, much less two of them. That’ll teach me … anyone who wants to buy one, email me- bethmaiorana@gmail.com. xoxo Beth in Pgh 😉
I have looked extensively over ebay for certain MAC items that I missed out on , like let me shimmer lipstick and extra dimension MSF but once i realized how much i would have to pay for these items and also outbid customers i decided against it. Two of my favorites perfumes have also be discontinued Betsy Johnson and Burberry the beat, the only place I have been able to find them is sometimes at Ross and TJ maxx, though one day i know there will be no more, hopefully I will be sick of the scents by then
I hunted down MAC’s All of My Purple Life lipglass. I finally, begrudgingly resorted to eBay…*gasp* *gasp* *blush*
I bought MAC’s Stereo Rose on ebay for $50 instead of the retail $29. It was worth it.
Eh I haven’t. If it’s gone, it wasn’t meant to be. Something else will come along.
The first time Mac Candy Yum Yum was released, I missed out on it. I called several Mac stores and counters and was told it was sold out. When it was re-released this past August, I wasn’t going to miss out again and ordered 2. I was so happy that I was able to get my hands on it UNTIL 2 1/2 hours later I notice an email from Mac stating my order had been cancelled. *heart drops to stomach* I call Mac to find out what happened, the rep tells me I have to re-place my order and when she goes to add CYY to my order, she says,”I’m so sorry, it’s sold out.” %&$*&%$ I wanted to cry, scream and cry again. I posted the news on Instagram and someone (bless her heart) offered to sell me one of the extras she bought at the regular price of $15. Happy ending to this story 🙂
I bought Mac Camden Chic after seeing your review on it – and I LOVE IT. I’m thinking of buying another tube as a backup since it’s a LE, and I was wondering how long they’d keep, unopened and sealed? What were your experiences with the three extra Marisheenos? 🙂
Hi Tina,
I think they can survive for maybe an extra year or two on their own. To be honest, all three are still in their boxes as I never finished the first one, lol!